Information, education and humor mixed with writing, radio and books and other things from Across the Pond

With 800 shows under the “A Book and a Chat” belt i have with work and now my new radio show “Those Were The Days” been finding there is just not enough time to keep these blogs up to date. Therefore I am going to start doing a monthly Blog of the guests I have for that month on the show.

Don’t forget there is also now on Sundays at 5:00PM ET “Those Were The Days”

Music from the 30’s to the 80’s along with a comedy snippet or two.
From songs you know well, to perhaps some you’ve never heard before.
A show to set your feet tapping and a bring a smile to your face as you remember…
“Those Were The Days”.

If you are interested in being a guest on “A Book and a Chat” or want to contact me about either show email me at twtd@barryeva.com with the show subject in the title.

When your father is Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, co-founder of the New Wave magazine CAHIERS DU CINEMA, and from her grandfather, French filmmaker André Cayatte (original THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES), it is not surprising that Diane Doniol-Valcroze as a young girl, she developed a passion for writing.

Born in Paris, France, Diane e earned a B.A. in English literature from the Sorbonne University, and an M.F.A. in film from New York University while apprenticing on the Lauren Hutton show. It was while at New York University she met Arthur K. Flam and together they have co-written screen plays for such films as Lionsgate’s PENNY DREADFUL, starring Mimi Rogers, and MGM’s HIT AND RUN, helmed by Enda McCallion and starring Kevin Corrigan.

Now the two of them have produced their debut book 41 STRANGE.

41 STRANGE, a first-of-its-kind e-book anthology devoted exclusively to “short-short stories of the strange and horrifying,” awaits just a couple of clicks away for Kindle readers who enjoy a good shiver up their spines. The book delivers a reading experience in the spirit of such masters of the macabre as Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock, and Rod Serling. Many of the stories were written “in the lonely hour of the wolf … in the pre-dawn darkness when you get those ‘waking nightmares.’” .

As one reviewer wrote “… gruesome and skillfully assembled… Each story is a quick read that abundantly satisfies the audience’s thirst and appetite for horrific plots… these short horror stories provide great entertainment…”

With a second book already underway, we will I am sure hear a lot more from these talented authors.

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Diane Doniol-Valcroze

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” is Lyn Croft, a sci-fi fantasy writer born and raised in sunny Southern California. There, she raises her daughter, works full time, writes novels, and plays video games in her spare time. Her debut novel “Blood & Lilies” was the first in “Bloodlines” a series of epic tales for the battle between good and evil.

This successful novel has now been followed, perhaps with the aid of y Buffy and Angel DVD’s; by book two “Blood and Kindred”.

About “Blood and Kindred”:

Cara expected a relaxing spring break, free from studying, free from exams. Instead, her reality has been crushed as she is thrown into a world of the supernatural and finds out that the very battle between Heaven and Hell centers around her.

Halflings, Vampyres, and Werewolves are now part of her reality as she struggles to survive.

Her best friend is now a vampyre and Zillah, the ancient vampyre queen is still hot on her trail. New enemies emerge as lost loved ones resurface. In this exciting sequel to BLOOD and LILIES, the Halflings fight to protect the key while everywhere they turn; they face betrayal and new enemies.

Will Eamon lose Cara forever when she finds out the secrets behind the Halfling’s heritage and learns what she truly is? Or will Zillah finally win in her quest and open the portal between all realms, destroying our mortal reality and the key along with it?

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Lyn Croft

My guest on today’s “A Book and a Chat” is award winning author Mike Faricy . His novels are an addictive
combination of mystery and suspense woven together with a rich strain of
humor and a bit of romance.

Always into books from an early age Mike entertaining and engrossing tales are filled with the sort of quirky, oddball characters many would like to know more about, but wisely prefer to keep at a distance. Many of the characters serve, not so much as examples of real people, but more as warnings to the rest of us of the darker side of humanity. Readers will not find characters who are saving the world from terrorism, international banking conspiracies, or coups to topple the government. Rather, they are part of our world, living just below the surface of polite society. The difficulties the characters find themselves in are usually due to their own bad decisions, but then, bad decisions make for interesting tales.

From Mike’s first book “Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick” his crime novel which now number 14 include seven in the marvelous series which introduces us to the bizarrely devilish Devlin Haskell as a PI with a foot on both sides of the law. From the first book in the series “Russian Roulette” through others such as “Mr. Softee “ and “Bite Me” to his latest release the “Ting-a-ling”.

About “Ting-A-Ling”

Continuing the Dev Haskell – Private Investigator Series with Case 7

After answering Danielle’s middle of the night phone call, private investigator Dev Haskell offers to help. It’s a simple task. All he has to do is deliver a message to her former business partner. The next thing he knows, Dev is involved in a missing person case and he can’t find his client or her business partner. That turns out to be the least of his problems when he finds himself on the hook for murder and all the evidence points toward him.

Meanwhile, an incident from his childhood continues to haunt Dev. With his very freedom hanging in the balance everything seems to be beyond his control. He’ll need all his skill and a good deal of luck to save himself. In a tale fraught with danger, Mike Faricy, Master of the Bizarre lays one twist on top of another until a murder rap becomes the least of Dev’s problems.

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Mike Faricy

My guest today is Mary Crockett, an award winning poet and one of the co-authors of a great new YA novel “Dream Boy”.

Mary wrote her first poem at the age of 8, an epic about impending nuclear holocaust being diverted by a plucky little eight-year-old girl and her legion of insect friends. Amy and the Ants” was written in rhyming couplets and went on for several pages. Sadly, it was never finished.

Though her first income was for being a hand model for a toilet seat. She continued to write award winning poetry. Deciding to move on to writing novel Mary paired up with author Madelyn Rosenberg, the result of which is a debut and really entertaining YA novel “Dream Boy”.

About “Dream Boy”:

Annabelle Manning feels like she’s doing time at her high school in Chilton, Virginia. She has her friends at her lunchtime table of nobodies. What she doesn’t have are possibilities. Or a date for Homecoming. Things get more interesting at night, when she spends time with the boy of her dreams. But the blue-eyed boy with the fairytale smile is just that—a dream. Until the Friday afternoon he walks into her chemistry class.

One of friends suspects he’s an alien. Another is pretty sure it’s all one big case of déjà vu. While Annabelle doesn’t know what to think, she’s willing to believe that the charming Martin Zirkle may just be her dream come true. But as Annabelle discovers the truth behind dreams—where they come from and what they mean—she is forced to face a dark reality she had not expected. More than just Martin has arrived in Chilton. As Annabelle learns, if dreams can come true, so can nightmares.

In other words this great book could be summed up as…

Girl dreams boy. Girl meets boy. Girl, boy, and friends save universe

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Mary Crockett

Today’s “A Book and a Chat” has Sally Ember dropping by to make an appearance. Describing herself as “Author, Buddhist meditator, NPO manager, swimmer, musician, poet, dreamer” Sally did not disappoint in making the show one that all will have enjoyed.

Sally has been passionate about writing since she was nine years old. She’s won prizes for her poetry, stories, songs and plays. She began meditation in her teens. Now, Sally delights fans of paranormal and romance by blurring the lines between fact and fiction in a multiverse of multiple timelines, often including exciting elements of utopian science fiction and Buddhism.

Her “The Spanners Series” is classed as sci-fi/ romance/ speculative fiction/paranormal/ multiverse/ utopian ebooks for Adult/New and Young Adult audiences.

Currently consisting of two novels “”This Changes Everything” and “This Changes My Family and My Life Forever,” Sally has a further eight books in the series already mapped out.

About “This Changes My Family and My Life Forever”

Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, 58, begins having secret visits from holographic representations of beings from the Many Worlds Collective, a consortium of planet and star systems in the multiverse. When Earth is invited to join the Collective, the holos choose Clara as liaison between Earth and the Many Worlds Collective to make the secret visits public and guide Earth’s new leaders.

While Earthers adjust their beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and everything they think and are, rebellions and conflicts arise. The Collective works with Clara to create the Psi-Warriors who fight the leaders of the resistance, the Psi-Defiers. With multiple re-sets needed to revise the past and future to save lives, in which of the timelines in the multiverse does her love, Epifanio Dang, get to be with Clara? Over Clara’s thirty-year term as Chief Communicator, Earthers must undergo major transformations.

Are YOU ready for the changes?

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with Sally Ember

H. A. Somerled (Heather) todays guest on “A Book and a Chat” lives in the Missoula, Montana area.

After an uneventful tour in the U.S. Navy, she followed her passions and enrolled in Culinary School. She graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art and has also completed a writing course from the Long Ridge Writer’s Group.

From an early age Heather wrote little stories including one about her morning routine where her mother says “Now is the time is the time is the time.” In eighth grade she had a teacher who encouraged pupils to write a journal and hand it in every week. Heather wrote about a creature in her locker (named the Lockerness Monster) who ate her homework, stole one gym sock or shoe, and caused her a lot of grief in middle school. Since then she has written short stories whenever the inspiration hit her.

After watching Sherlock and The Adventures of Merlin and fascinated by the two main actors, (Benedict Cumberbatch and Colin Morgan) Heather thought they could play brothers. Then she thought they could be a police officer and a smart ass brother who always got in trouble. Threw in a female American hacker to spice things up, and it blossomed into her debut novel “Angel’s Code”, which is now closely followed by “Angel’s Betrayal” both part of the “Angel Hacker Series”.

About “Angel’s Betrayal”

Its summertime and insects are not the only thing flying in the London skies. Oliver and Danny Murray return in this explosive second in the series novel. When two C.I.A. agents appear in Oliver Murray’s office, he knows nothing good could come from it. An American drone has gone missing and the agents believe the one of their own has taken it. The agent’s name is Sara Parsons, also known as Fallen Angel. Maintaining her innocence, Angel tries to find the real thief, but when one of the agents sent to arrest her turns up dead in her flat, Oliver has a hard time believing her. With the help from his brother, Danny, Oliver betrays his own instincts and decides to help Angel find the true murderer and drone thief.

As one reviewer put it… “Intelligent and fast paced, the action is very fun to read with the author’s irreverent humor sprinkled throughout the story”. The name H.A. Somerled is one to look for on your book shelves.

So listen now and share an interesting and entertaining show as I chat with my special guest today on A Book and a Chat with H. A. Somerled